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Three's Not Much Company For SEC

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 16, 2009

TAMPA - Southeastern Conference coaches and players spent all week, and a good part of the season, defending their league.

There's not much they can say now.

The SEC got three teams in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, the league's smallest representation since 1990. It was a clear indication how the selection committee felt about a league that ranked sixth in RPI and had few head-to-head wins against teams from the major conferences.

LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State made the 65-team field, and the Bulldogs might have missed out if they hadn't toppled Tennessee 64-61 in the tournament final in Tampa on Sunday.

Auburn, South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky - all hoping to improve their NCAA resumes in the SEC tournament - failed to get in.

"Disappointing," Volunteers coach Bruce Pearl said. "We were very disappointed. There's only one thing we can do, and that is win and demonstrate we deserve better as a league."

If the number of SEC teams was a blow to the conference, those seedings might have been the knockout punch.

LSU, the regular-season champion, was a No. 8 seed. Tennessee was a No. 9 seed and Mississippi State was a No. 13 seed.

"I'm surprised at the high seeds, especially Tennessee," Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. "LSU being that high of a seed, that was surprising to me. When I saw Tennessee come across there as a 9, the kids didn't know it, but I knew it. You kind of knew where the league stood in the eyes of the people making the decisions when I saw that."

Each of the six major conferences has gotten at least three teams into the NCAA Tournament in every year since 1988, when the Pac-10 landed just two spots.

The SEC had earned at least five berths in each of the last 12 seasons. The conference had gotten more than three teams in every year since 1990, when Alabama, Georgia and LSU made it. Perennial powerhouse Kentucky was on probation that season.

The Wildcats had made the NCAA field the last 17 years. They ended that streak Sunday, no surprise since Coach Billy Gillispie's team lost nine of its final 13 games.

BACK AT LAST: Morgan State's first trip to the NCAA Tournament represented a touch of redemption for third-year coach Todd Bozeman.

The NCAA banned him from coaching for eight years after he admitted paying a recruit while coaching at California. Morgan State gave him a chance, and the results have been worth it.

The 15th-seeded Bears (23-11), who won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday night, will play against No. 2 Oklahoma on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.

Morgan State won the MEAC regular-season title last year but was upset by crosstown rival Coppin State in the tournament championship game. The Bears went to the NIT.

BOUNCING BUCKEYE STATE: Five teams from Ohio will represent the state - known more for its passion for football than basketball - in the NCAA Tournament: No. 4 seed Xavier, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 11 Dayton, No. 13 Cleveland State and No. 13 Akron.

The Associated Press

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